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the next town, Okkawa. Three miles was not that big of a gap to cover on foot, unless one is
with Selena. She had not shut up for the past twenty minutes, and I was close to throwing her
into the woods to let the wolves have her. She kept complaining and nagging and groaning.
I understood I should have been more proactive about the spare tire, but it wasn’t my fault our phones didn’t have service. We were literally in between towns, so the signal was terrible.
“For a man who micromanages everything, you sure did fuck this one up,Mr. Sinclair.”
“Do you think I meant to burst the tire? No.” I groaned, “So shut up and keep trudging along with me. The gas station should be up ahead.”
“I knew I should have taken my own damn car, but noooo….you just had to insist.”
This had been going on for the last half mile, and I was just about ready to blow, but I knew that one of us had to keep calm and level-headed in a situation like this. “I swear, you are so freaking annoying. I don’t even know why Claire insisted we come together. I could have driven there alone and not been subjected to this nonsense.”
This was the most she had spoken to me all trip. She had just been brooding and silent for the most part. But I knew that her anger had more to do with things that had occurred before all of this.
“I forgot to replace the one that I had. Forgive me for running a damn empire and being too busy. I have a lot that goes on in my day-to-day, Selena. Not all of us can have an easy life like you.”
I heard her sigh. “You know nothing about the life I live, Daniel.”
“That’s right, I don’t,” I bit back, “and you know nothing of my life, so shut up and keep walking. I made a mistake, boohoo. You were welcome to stay in the car but wanted to come, so shut it and walk.”
“Have I mentioned that I hate you?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, willing for the heat stroke to take me out now. “Only once or twice.”
Her cheeks were flushed from all the walking we had done. Small beads of sweat situated themselves on her forehead, and her small baby hairs clung to her skin. She had even taken off her hoodie and tied it to her waist, trying to cool down.
We were in mid-October now, and fall had fully set in. The leaves had changed color, and the ground was littered with an array of yellows, browns, and oranges. The days were shorter, yet the weather sometimes resembled summer as the afternoon rolled in, and today was no different.
I had taken this drive over a hundred times, and I had never once had an issue like this. It was just my luck that this would occur when I was driving Selena. The heavens hated me. I was sure of it.
“I’m so damn hot,” she panted, looking like she was seconds from fainting. The sun was blistering as the clock ticked toward eleven in the morning, and her warm sweats did nothing to cool her lower body. She was struggling, and I was to blame. I could hear her breathing had become labored.
“I can carry you.” The suggestion had left my mouth before I could fully compute what I wanted to say.
She looked at me like I had lost my damn mind. “I would much rather eat nails than let you carry me. How much longer to this place?”
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a grinding halt. She snapped her fiery gaze up at me, her mouth curling into a sinister scowl.
“You have three seconds to get your hand off my wrist before my knee connects with your balls.” The venom in her voice threw me for a second. “One…two…”
“Look, I get that you are mad at me, and you had every right to be mad. But you have asthma, and I won’t risk you having an attack while we are walking. So you can either hop on my back, or I throw you over my shoulder.”
Her eyes widened, “How do you know about my asthma?”
“You had an attack that time you came down for Thanksgiving.”
Her mouth hung open as she thought back to the time she had scared half the table to death when she turned purple in the face. Seb had been the one to take the lead seeing as he was the doctor, but I would be lying by saying it didn’t scare the shit out of me. I felt helpless in that moment.
“I remember,” she blinked at me, her glare returning to her face. “You left the table to take a business call while I was trying to breathe.”
That wasn’t true. There had been no business call. I couldn’t handle seeing people sick. After watching my father grapple with life and fight to remain on this earth, sickness and pain were things that I couldn’t stomach. I had told everyone that I needed to take a call because I didn’t want the questions that would likely follow from my sister.
“It was an important call.”
She huffed humorlessly, “Of course. Always the workaholic.”
